This
is a simple technique, nothing special,
it maybe works for one task but not
for another. So feel free to improve,
or change the technique as you like,
to get the result you want. Also you
will need to be familiar with max, I
will not explain where the different
tools are or how they work.
First
draw a simple three point "Spline"
in the front or left view as shown in
the picture. Keep in mind to close the
spline other wise it will not work correctly.
Also don't click and drag since that produces
a bezier spline, we want a linear spline.
Now
go into sub-object mode, select all points,
right click on one of the selected points
to get into the quad menu and set them
to be "Bezier
Corner"
rather than "Corner".
If you don't do that you will later not
get enough subdivisions for bending the
spline.
Since
we wanna use the max own scatter function
we need to take care of the pivot. We
want it to be at the bottom of the grass
shaft. Normally we could use the adjust
pivot tools but for objects we want to
use with scatter there appears to be a
bug; it will never use the pivot you have
set, it will always use the original pivot
that was created when you made the spline.
So what we do is go out of sub-object
mode and see where the pivot is at the
moment, keep the position in mind or place
a dummy at this position, go back into
sub-object mode and move the vertex selection
so the bottom of the shaft is at the same
location as the pivot. Leave sub-object
mode, check that the pivot is in the correct
position. If so then go onto the next
step.
Add
a "Bend"
modifier to the shape and set it to "Angle":
60.0, "Direction":
90.0 "Bend
Axis":
Y Also alter the center position in the
sub-object mode so that the lower part
of the shaft is parallel to the viewport
grid. You can use different values if
you like, it's up to you. They mean nothing.
I just picked them because they produce
a good result.
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Put
an "Editmesh"
on top, just to generate the mesh and
add also a "UVW"
modifier on top of it. Try to align the
UVW gizmo to the overall shape of the
shaft to avoid the texture getting stretched.
Simply do this by rotating the gizmo in
sub-object mode. You can also use the
Center, Fit or Align function in the modifier
to make it more easy.
Clone
the mesh and hide the copy. This is just
if you wanna change something and don't
wanna redo it all again from the start
or you maybe want to do other versions
of shaft bended with different values.
Ok now add a material to it, I'm not going
to go into any depth with that, just a
simple "2
Sided",
green coloured material will do the trick
for now. If you feel like you need to
add something more complicated go ahead.
Small note, something you should use for
a grass material is translucency to give
it a more realistic look. Since the material
structure of grass allows light to shine
thru the shaft and be visible on the other
site, same for shadows that are casted
onto the grass, they are also visible
on the opposite side.
Collapse
the stack so we get a "Editable
Mesh"
or "Editable
Poly"
and now add "Scatter"
to it. Scatter can be found in the create
menu under "Compound
Objects".
Now we also need a distribution object
where we want the grass to "grow" on.
Create a "Plane"
from the top or perspective view. Give
it some more sub-divisions like 20x20.
Add a basic brown-green coloured material
to it.
